Planning Policy Wales - Brecon Beacons National Park

plan (either alone or in combination with other plans or projects) may incur the risk of seriously
compromising the ecological characteristics of a cSAC.
2.4.8 The HRA should be programmed to fit in with existing plan-making procedures, including the
SEA, wherever possible, but the appraisal should be clearly identified and kept distinct from that of
the SA/SEA. LDPs cannot proceed to adoption until the HRA process has been completed.
2.5 Phasing of development
2.5.1 In the light of local circumstances it is for individual authorities to consider the need for
phasing of development over the period of the LDP. Phasing may be justified by considerations
relating to physical or social infrastructure, or to the adequacy of other services, which may indicate
that a particular site cannot be released for development until a particular stage in the plan period.
Evidence that market demand would exhaust total planned provision in the early years of the LDP
may also indicate a need for some overall phasing of development, though this generally will be
justifiable only in areas which are under severe development pressure. Where phasing is included in
an LDP it should take the form of a broad indication of the timescale envisaged for the release of the
main development areas or identified sites, rather than an arbitrary numerical limit on permissions
or a precise order of release of sites in particular periods.
2.5.2 Proposals for phasing should allow for a reasonable degree of choice and flexibility,
for example to secure an efficient and effective housing market. Flexibility will be needed in respect
of the emergence of unidentified sites, i.e. sites not allocated in the LDP for the particular type of
development and generally referred to as windfall sites. Phasing policies should recognise the need
for possible adjustment to the timing of land release to the extent that the emergence of unidentified
sites exceeds or falls short of the assumptions in the LDP. Where assumptions are made in the LDP
about the future availability of windfall sites the assumptions will need to be checked by regular
monitoring of planning permissions granted.
2.6 What happens when a development plan has not yet been adopted
2.6.1 Planning applications must be considered in the light of the strategy and policies in the
adopted development plan.
2.6.2 In development control decisions the weight to be attached to an emerging draft LDP will in
general depend on the stage it has reached, but does not simply increase as the plan progresses
towards adoption. When conducting the examination, the appointed Inspector is required to
consider the soundness of the whole plan in the context of national policy and all other matters
which are material to it. Consequently, policies could ultimately be amended or deleted from the
plan even though they may not have been the subject of a representation at deposit stage (or be
retained despite generating substantial objection). Certainty regarding the content of the plan will
only be achieved when the Inspector publishes the binding report. Thus in considering what weight
to give to the specific policies in an emerging LDP that apply to a particular proposal, local planning
authorities will need to consider carefully the underlying evidence and background to the policies.
22
Planning Policy Wales Edition 3 - July 2010 - Chapter 2 Development Plans